Not How I Imagined It
by notnicorette
Summary: Clarke passes out after the blood transfusion and her time in the City of Light. Bellamy, of course, insists on taking care of her. This one-shot ended up turning into a "let's go save the world" multi-chapter fic. How long will it take Bellamy and Clarke to admit how they feel about each other?
1. Chapter 1

Bellamy watched as his sister, the baby sister he'd practically raised, ran down the hallway. Then he turned his head to where Pike, his former leader, maybe even his former mentor lay, already dead from the stab wound Octavia had inflicted.

Bellamy closed his eyes for a moment, trying to figure out if he should be angry, sad, or happy that his little sister had done the job he should have done long ago.

He opened his eyes when he felt Clarke's hand on his arm.

"Bellamy…"

He turned to look at her, although she didn't seem to have anything else to say, other than his name.

An understanding passed between them without words, as it always did. She was telling him she was there for him. She understood he was hurting, and she wanted him to know he wasn't alone.

"Should I…" He gestured after his sister, his voice sounding strangled.

She slowly shook her head. "I don't think she wants to talk right now."

He took a deep breath, trying to shake off the turmoil he was feeling.

When he focused again, he felt sharper, more clear-headed. His emotions were pushed to the back, like always. They were there, lapping at the edges of his consciousness, but they were far enough away that he could get back to the task at hand. Because he'd learned, a long time ago, that was what was necessary to survive.

This time, when he looked at Clarke, his face was grim. "Talk to me, Clarke."

He was referring to her cryptic announcement from a moment earlier, when she'd said they hadn't saved the world.

She glanced around, making sure everyone else was preoccupied or far enough away that her voice wouldn't carry to them. Leaning in closer, she spoke softly, "ALIE showed me something."

His eyes searched hers warily. "What?"

"The nuclear power plants around the world…they're all failing. We don't have much time before radiation makes the Earth uninhabitable…for real, this time."

"Son of a bitch."

She looked away, her gaze passing over those around them: her mother, who was sobbing and hugging Kane so tightly, Clarke felt like she was witnessing something private; Murphy, who was holding some girl that vaguely resembled a pirate and murmuring things in her hair, looking totally unlike himself; Miller, who was trying to stop the bleeding from a wound on Bryan's leg. They were all hurt-bruised, battered, bleeding, not to mention emotionally scared, and they thought they'd just won a great victory.

She returned her gaze to Bellamy. "They deserve a night. Just one night." Her voice was almost questioning.

His gaze made the same trip around that room that hers had made a minute earlier, taking in the chaos around them. "We'll tell them in the morning. Start…working on a plan, I guess."

"Saving the world, part 332?"

He gave her his trademark grin. "Yeah, something like that."

She smiled back for a moment, before her face fell. "Bellamy…I don't know if we can fix it this time."

"Sure we will, Princess. We always do."

She fixed her eyes on his, seeming to gain some kind of strength from whatever she found there. With a brief nod, she finally looked away. "I should help my Mom…start patching people up."

She'd only taken a few steps away from him when her legs buckled underneath her.

He caught her just before her head hit the floor. "Clarke?"

She didn't respond.

"Clarke?!" His voice was louder, his hands shaking her.

She blinked slowly, finally opening her eyes.

He turned, searching for her mother. "Abby!"

Abby was in front of him in seconds, kneeling down to run a hand over Clarke's face. "Honey, what's wrong?" She was searching her body, as if she expected to find a gaping wound.

"I…I don't know." Clarke's voice came out barely above a whisper.

"What hurts? Are you injured?"

Bellamy spoke, still cradling her shoulders with one arm. "Did you get hurt in the City of Light? Something that may have followed you here?"

"I…I don't think so. I just got so tired all of a sudden…"

Bellamy's eyes narrowed. "Clarke…when's the last time you slept?"

She frowned. "Last night."

"Bull."

Abby and Clarke both looked at him.

"I was on watch. You didn't close your eyes for more than 15 minutes."

"Don't be silly. I'm fine. I need to go look at Bryan's wound." She started to get up, only to immediately crumple back into Bellamy's arms as another wave of exhaustion hit her.

Abby went back into doctor mode, feeling her forehead for a fever, checking her pupils, and then checking her pulse. When she was done, she spoke more to Bellamy than to her daughter. "I think she's just extremely fatigued."

When Clarke scoffed, Abby looked down at her, placing a hand on her arm. "Honey, it's not just because you didn't sleep, or even because of all the stress you've been under, and that alone would be enough to bring anyone else down. You just had that…thing…in your head. Not to mention an unnecessary blood transfusion with black blood. We don't even know if she was the same blood type. Your body is probably trying to flush out her blood and make more of your own, trying to purify itself. You need to rest."

Clarke shook her head and started to protest again.

Abby silenced her. "Clarke, I'm not talking an hour nap. I mean you need to sleep. Your body needs to heal. Without it, your immune system could shut down…your whole body could shut down." She looked up at Bellamy. "Can you take her somewhere quiet? I'll finish up as soon as I can and then I'll come take care of her."

He shook his head. "You do what you need to do. I've got her."

Abby watched him uncertainly as he picked her daughter up, standing with her cradled in his arms. "Bellamy…"

He looked at her sternly. "I've got her."

Abby nodded, almost reluctantly.

Turning towards the door, he started carrying Clarke out of the room.

"Wait!" Abby called to him as she got something out of her medical bag. She placed a small bottle of Monty's moonshine and a clean cloth in Clarke's hand. Her eyes met Bellamy's. "I…she has cuts…on her chest." She looked away guiltily. "They shouldn't need stitches, but make sure they're clean."

Bellamy nodded, again heading for the door. He stopped just in front of his second in command. "Miller, you got this?"

Miller took one look at Clarke, glanced around the room, then locked his gaze back on Bellamy's, nodding.

Bellamy carried Clarke down the long hallway, turned down a shorter hallway, and headed for a small bedroom he'd seen when he was trying to secure the floor just a few hours earlier. Carrying her inside, he laid her down on the bed before going back to shut the door and lock it.

She raised her eyebrows.

He shrugged. "You're getting a decent night's sleep." Walking back over to her, he gently pulled her into a sitting position, but when he took his hands off her shoulders, she started to sway again.

"Dammit, Clarke." Running his fingers through his hair, he eyed their situation, trying to come up with a solution. Finally, he kneeled on the bed beside her, helping her scoot back so her back was against the wall, helping to hold her up. He eyed her warily. "You good?"

She nodded.

He carefully released her, making sure she stayed upright when he let go of her this time.

He searched the room, finding a bowl and a pitcher of clean water. "We're going to take care of those cuts, get you cleaned up a little, and then you're going to sleep for at least 10 hours. Okay?"

"Okay." Her voice barely carried across the tiny room to him.

He returned, kneeling beside her on the bed again. "Okay, we need to take your Grounder shit off."

She smiled, eyes still closed. "Grounder shit?"

"Have you seen this thing, Princess? Not exactly ark issue." He tapped on the corset she wore.

"You scared of my clothes, tough guy?"

"This? Nah." One side of his mouth lifted in a smirk. "That coat you had on before though…"

She reached up, barely managing to smack his arm.

He chuckled, unhooking her corset. There seemed to be a million tiny little hooks, and if he noticed his hands shaking, he blamed it on the adrenaline let down from the battle a few minutes ago.

Finally unhooking it, he pulled it off. He immediately noticed her breathe a little easier.

"God, that feels better."

He shook his head, trying not to grin as he removed his jacket. "Okay. Let me see those cuts."

Clarke's eyes were closed again and she didn't seem in a hurry to move, so he carefully brushed her hair over her shoulders, giving him access to the two puncture wounds on her chest.

He sucked in a breath when he saw them. "What happened, Clarke?"

She didn't open her eyes. "My mom."

His hand stilled on the bottle of moonshine he'd been opening. "What?"

"When she was…chipped." Clarke seemed to be fading in and out, and even getting out those few words took her a few breaths. "It's fine. Just…alcohol." She gestured in the general vicinity of her chest.

Of course, even half asleep, she was giving orders and trying to doctor everyone…even herself.

"Working on it, Princess." Bellamy poured some on the cloth, then gently wiped the wounds. He winced when he heard her gasp, but the pain only seemed to last a moment, because she started breathing evenly again after a few seconds.

"Okay?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Keep your eyes closed."

Pulling the bowl of water towards him, he dipped the cloth in, wrung it out, and then gently started wiping the dirt off her forehead. He repeated the process a few times, until he'd gotten her face as clean as possible, given the circumstances.

When he got off the bed, she opened her eyes.

"Your turn." She mumbled.

He shook his head.

"Bellamy…don't make me come do it myself." She smiled, laughing at herself, because she knew there was no way she could sit up straight on her own, let alone actually carry through with her threat. She moved her hand toward him, pointing to his face. "Blood…bruises…you know I'll never be able to sleep if you don't clean them."

He sighed, walking over to the piece of broken glass on the wall that apparently served as a mirror. Using the water, he removed as much of the dried blood and dirt as he could, then dabbed the alcohol on the cuts.

When he turned back around, her eyes were closed again.

Sitting on the bed beside her outstretched legs, he pulled her boots off. "Come on, Clarke. You need to get some sleep."

She made a vague noise in her throat.

He took stock of her, taking note of the filthy state of her pants, not to mention how uncomfortable they looked.

He clenched his jaw, feeling the muscle in his cheek twitch when he did.

There was no reason to be uncomfortable about this. She was his friend and she was sick. It's the same thing he'd do for any one of his friends or his sister.

At least that's what he kept telling himself.

He grabbed her hands, pulling her to the edge of the bed, so her legs were hanging off.

She blinked up at him drowsily.

He looked away briefly before squatting down in front of her, his hands going to the waistband of her pants, his fingers resting on the button.

His gaze met hers. "Trust me?"

Her eyes looked a little wider than normal, but all she did was nod.

His fingers quickly undid the button, then slid down the zipper.

Something about the sound made him tense. He swallowed, hard, just as he heard her make a tiny noise above him, something that sounded almost like a sigh.

He stepped back, putting a few feet between them and running his hand through his hair. "I…I should go get your mother…or Octavia…"

"No."

Placing his hands on his hips, he looked at her.

She was swaying slightly on the edge of the bed, and while she still looked half out of it, she was gazing at him with something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"You sure?" He asked, his voice coming out a little strangled.

She nodded.

Walking back over to her, he put his hands around her waist, carefully lifting her up and pulling her against his body. "Can you put your arms around my neck?"

She complied, which put their bodies flush against each other.

Bellamy took ahold of the waistband of her pants, and pulled them down carefully until he got them just past her hips.

He was leaning over, which left her face buried somewhere in-between his shoulder and his neck. Feeling, more than hearing, her make some kind of noise, he abruptly stopped and put his hands back on her waist.

Was she…crying? "Clarke?"

The noise increased, and his eyebrows raised when he realized what it was. "Are you… _laughing_?"

He felt her nod into his shoulder.

" _Why?!_ "

She moved back just a few centimeters; far enough so that she could talk, but not far enough that he couldn't feel her lips move against his shirt as her mouth moved. "I just…I never imagined _this_ was how this would happen for the first time."

Wait. Did she just say…

His hands tightened on her waist as her words sunk in.

"Clarke?" He tried to pull her back to look at her face, but she practically slid down him when he took away the support of his body.

Gently pushing her back on the bed, he watched as she immediately sank down, eyes closed again.

Of course, she chose _now_ to fall back asleep.

Shaking his head, but also slightly glad for the reprieve, he knelt down, pulling her pants the rest of the way off.

Standing up, he took ahold of her around the waist, again pulling her up and leaning her against his body. With his free hand, he pulled back the covers on the bed.

"Okay, sleeping beauty. Time for bed."

She just stood there, leaning against him.

Muttering softly, he bent, sweeping his arm under her knees and cradling her against his chest the same way he had before, except it was even more intimate, seeing as how she didn't have any pants on.

Willing himself not to look anywhere other than her face, he gently laid her down and then pulled the covers over her.

As he leaned there, some part of him instinctually wanted to lean down and kiss her on the forehead. Before he even knew what was happening, his head started moving in that direction.

That's when she opened her eyes.

He froze, expecting her to jump or look surprised or angry or…something.

Instead, she just looked at him, her face mere inches from his.

Clearing his throat, he stood up, going to sit in the chair against the wall.

He sat hunched over, his head in his hands, until he felt very clear pinpricks on the back of his neck, almost like she was watching him.

He looked up to find her gaze on his.

"Go to sleep, Clarke."

She slowly shook her head.

"You're exhausted. You can't even hold yourself up right now. And you heard your mom…you have to sleep to heal."

"I think…I'm too tired to sleep now."

He narrowed his eyes, his gaze still connected to hers. He could tell when she was lying. "Clarke."

She sighed. "I'm afraid of what I'll see when I close my eyes, Bellamy." It was the most lucid she'd sounded since she'd first fainted in the other room.

His jaw clenched. "The City of Light?"

She nodded. "Everyone was coming after me. It was like…a mob. People pressing in all around me…everyone trying to kill me…and no matter where I went…" Her voice trailed off as a quiet sob shook her body.

Bellamy watched her for another moment before reaching down to pull off his boots.

He stood, taking the few steps necessary to reach the bed. Once beside it, he stood there, staring down at her, still unsure.

She nodded at his pants, which were close to her eye level. "You too."

He sucked in a breath. "Still trust me?"

"Bellamy…" She just blinked up at him, face soft in the gentle moonlight shining in the window. "…always."

Her words did funny things to his insides.

"Besides, fair is fair." Her last word was almost lost in a yawn.

Before he could think about it anymore, he quickly stepped out of his pants. "No, Princess. Fair would be you taking them off me."

He could swear he saw a faint blush come over her cheeks.

She scooted over towards the wall a little, making room for him.

He lifted the covers, crawling into the bed with her.

They both lay there in silence for a minute, him on his back, her curled in the fetal position a few inches away, facing him but not touching him.

He turned his head toward her, meeting her gaze.

Seeing that she was still trying to keep her eyes open, he muttered a curse under his breath.

Turning on his side, he reached for her. "Come here."

He pulled her into his body.

Instead of stopping him or trying to keep some distance between them, she scooted closer, seeming to melt into him.

He let the hand that was on her waist fall to her back, his arm around her, holding her close.

He lay there for a moment, just getting used to the feeling of her pressed against him and wondering if she could hear how loudly his heart was beating.

All he could think about was what she'd said earlier… _'I never imagined this was how this would happen for the first time.'_

Someday, when she wasn't nearly catatonic, maybe he'd work up the courage to ask her just what she meant by that comment.

Her hand curled into his shirt, just above his stomach, and he felt her let out a long sigh. Within just a few seconds, he felt her breathing even out and he knew she'd fallen asleep.

So he did what he'd wanted to do earlier, before he'd chickened out.

He pressed his lips gently against the top of her head before his own eyes closed.

Clarke woke slowly.

That in itself was an odd feeling, because she couldn't remember the last time she hadn't been rudely jostled awake or when her internal alarm hadn't been telling her she needed to get up immediately to take her turn on watch.

The odder feeling though, was how completely warm she felt. It wasn't an 'I'm on the cold ground, but I have a hide on top of me, so it's not that bad' warm, or a 'the sun came out, so the breeze isn't as chilly now' warm. It was like a cocoon of warmth.

She felt warm from head to toe, and she was starting to realize that only part of that had to do with the actual temperature. For the first time in months, she felt safe. It was such an alien feeling, it had taken her a while to process it, but that was definitely what it was.

Every other morning, her first instinct was to open her eyes and look around, making sure there weren't any signs of danger. This morning, her instinct was to leave her eyes closed and burrow deeper into the warmth.

She gave in to the urge, just a little, and her eyes flew open immediately. She suddenly realized the final reason she was so warm. Her hips were pressed tightly against a set of obviously male hips, and upon opening her eyes, all she could see was part of a t-shirt-covered chest and the strong bicep of the arm that was wrapped tightly around her back.

The previous night came flooding back to her as heat unfurled low in her stomach.

 _Bellamy._

She closed her eyes as she took stock of their situation, terrified she'd wake him if she moved again.

She was on top of him. Literally-on top of him.

One of her bare legs was in-between his, her hips and torso were above his, and her head was turned to the side, burrowed into his chest. One of her hands was on his side and the other was laying on his chest beside her head.

His arms were around her; one hand resting on her upper back, tangled in her hair, the other wrapped all the way around her waist, gripping her hip on the other side. His head must have been just above hers, because she could feel his breath on her hair.

There was no way she could get up without waking him, so she tried to be as nonchalant as possible. "Bellamy?"

He didn't respond, although she did hear his breathing change.

She turned her head, looking up at him for the first time.

She'd been correct, his head was just above hers, and she found herself staring at a sleeping Bellamy from just a few inches away.

Taking a moment, she just watched him. At the moment, he wasn't soldier Bellamy or badass Bellamy…he was just…Bellamy.

His face was peaceful, gentle, and the only time she'd ever seen anything even close to that look on his face was occasionally when he looked at his sister…and sometimes when he looked at her.

Before she could think about it, before she could stop herself, she did what she'd been wanting to do since she woke up.

She pressed a soft kiss to his chest.

His arms tightened around her as he started stirring.

Praying that he wasn't awake enough to know what she'd just done, she tried saying his name again, hoping he would assume that was what woke him. "Bellamy."

His eyes opened quickly, staring up at her in shock. "Clarke?"

His voice was raspy and Clarke had to force herself not to close her eyes at how good it sounded, especially since she could feel the rumble of his chest under her head as he said it.

"…morning?" She said, uncertainly.

She watched as the fog cleared from his eyes, reality coming back to him.

"Morning." He said gruffly.

They laid there, watching each other for who knows how long. At one point it felt like a few seconds, at another point, it felt like they'd been lying there for hours, but all Clarke knew was, when Bellamy finally averted his eyes, it felt like it was over too soon.

She tried to hold in a sigh.

His gaze flicked back to hers, suddenly concerned. "You okay? Last night…the blood transfusion…"

"I think so. I won't be sure until I start moving around…"

"Right." His arms released her slowly, almost reluctantly.

She tried to put some of her weight on her knee so she could pick herself up off of him, but she stopped when she felt him tense beneath her. "Easy, princess. Don't hurt the family jewels."

 _Oh._ "Sorry!" She winced.

He nodded.

"I'm not sure how to…"

Sighing, he wrapped his arms around her again, rolling onto his side and taking her with him.

Their momentum carried them a little too far, and he ended up partially on top of her.

Clarke just looked up at him, her hands still on his waist, and his now pressed into the mattress on each side of her head.

Her breathing seemed to slow, while his seemed to get louder.

Abruptly, he pushed himself off her and rolled to his feet on the floor. "Sorry."

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get her bearings. "It's fine."

She stood up, quickly becoming acutely aware of the fact that neither of them had pants on.

Spotting hers beside the bed, she quickly grabbed them, stepping into them just as she heard him doing the same.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, tugging on her boots at the same time he was tugging his on while sitting on the chair.

Finishing at the same time, they looked up at each other.

An awkward silence ensued for a few seconds.

She wasn't sure which one of them started it, but suddenly they were both grinning.

"Are you really okay? You were in a bad way last night." His face turned serious with his question.

"Yeah. I'm still a little tired, but I feel like myself again." She glanced out the window at the sun. "God, we must have slept for ages."

His gaze followed hers out the window. "I guess so."

"Thank you."

His eyes flicked back to hers.

"Thank you for taking care of me."

"You never have to thank me for that, Clarke."

She looked away at the intensity in his eyes.

"You were pretty out of it. Do you…remember everything?"

Her eyes widened. The first thought that popped into her mind was that they'd had sex, because that was the implication that sort of question carried, but she distinctly remembered falling asleep in his arms with at least the important parts of their clothing still on. Plus, she was 100% sure Bellamy wouldn't have taken advantage of her exhausted state.

"…I think so. Some of it seemed to fade in and out, almost like a dream. Why?"

His face remained impassive. "Nothing. Just curious."

"Okay…" She stood up, trying to put her 'Clarke the leader' face back on. "We need to go tell them."

He stood, assuming a nearly identical expression and nodding as he grabbed his jacket.

She bent to pick up her last piece of clothing…the corset that she remembered him taking off her the night before.

Looking back at him, she tossed it back on the bed, leaving it behind. "Wouldn't want to freak you out or anything," she said, tongue-in-cheek.

That spark of fire she'd tossed at him, that reminder of last night, it seemed to ignite something in him.

She was almost to the door, but she froze when she heard him utter his next words.

"So…tell me, Clarke. How, exactly, did you imagine me taking your pants off for the first time?"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** The previous chapter was supposed to be a one-shot, but the story just kept writing itself in my head. Also, I'd be lying if I said the comments asking for me to continue it didn't spur me a little. Plus, we've got like 27 years until the new season starts. So...behold, a multi-chapter fic.

* * *

Clarke's hand froze on the door knob, her head whipping around to look at him. "What?"

Bellamy wasn't grinning, his face was serious and fairly intense.

They paused for a few seconds, just watching each other uncertainly.

Finally, he spoke. "I take it that's one of the things you don't remember?" His gaze seemed to narrow.

Clarke could feel the heat coming up her neck and into her cheeks. "I…You mean that actually happened? I said that?"

He nodded, watching her intently.

Her mind raced, trying to combat her embarrassment, come up with an excuse, and ignore the way he way he was looking at her, which kind of made her want to take her pants back off. "…I thought that part was a dream."

He shook his head.

She glanced at her hands, at the wall, out the window over his shoulder, anywhere but at him. "You must have misunderstood what I said…"

He narrowed his gaze as if he knew she was lying. He took a step toward her, some sort of determination in his gaze. "Clarke…"

Oh, God. She couldn't do this. She had to… "I must have thought you were someone else," she blurted out.

He stopped in his tracks.

Her heart clenched as she watched as the determination on his face turned to pain, only to quickly be replaced by a mask of indifference.

"Sure," he said evenly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be…inappropriate."

"It's fine. You weren't yourself." His jaw clenched. "Obviously."

She had to remind herself to breathe as he walked around her, unlocking and opening the door himself.

Without looking back, he called over his shoulder, "I need to check on Miller and the guys. Let me know when you're going to tell them…if you want me to be there."

She frowned. "Bellamy…of course I want…"

But he was already gone.

She jogged out the door, trying to catch up with his long strides.

By the time she turned the corner into the other hallway, she spotted him, but she also saw dozens of people in the corridor, some sitting and chatting quietly, others still sleeping. Her people seemed to be mixed in with the Grounders, and she got waylaid by a few of them who wanted to inquire about her health or to thank her for saving them.

She hurried past them as quickly as she could, promising to come back to talk to them later. By the time she reached the large meeting room, Bellamy had already strode up to his sister, who was sitting beside Indra, eating an apple.

Bellamy stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at his sister, his face hard. "Should I bother eating breakfast, or are you going to run me through with a blade too?"

Octavia stood up slowly, her face stony. "You were wrong."

Clarke could see Bellamy's jaw tighten.

"I know."

"You were partially responsible for Lincoln's death. The man I loved. The man who only ever tried to protect me…protect all of us."

Bellamy's hands fell to his sides, his expression tormented. "I know. I'm sorry, O."

Clarke had to strain to hear his quiet words, but she could feel the sincerity in them.

Octavia's eyes suddenly met hers, noticing her eavesdropping before returning to Bellamy. "How would you feel if I had a hand in murdering the woman you love?"

Bellamy's eyes flicked up to Octavia's and his breath caught, audibly. He was silent for a minute before he replied, "I don't deserve your forgiveness."

It wasn't a question; it was a statement. And, this time, his voice sounded tortured.

Clarke's eyes narrowed at their exchange. Octavia had said 'woman you love' like such a person actually existed…and Bellamy had answered the same way.

For some reason, her heartbeat increased.

Octavia's lips pursed. "No, you don't." She studied him for a moment before she reached down and pulled another apple out of her bag, handing it to him. "Not yet."

Bellamy took the apple tentatively, as if he was afraid she would snatch it away from him at the last minute, but she didn't.

She sat back down, turning to resume her conversation with Indra as if nothing had happened.

Bellamy nodded once, twice, staring at the apple in his hand, then he turned around. His gaze caught hers, and with a frown, he headed in the opposite direction.

Clarke let out a sigh, her gaze scanning the room for her mother. Seeing her over in the corner with Marcus, she headed in that direction.

Abby stood up immediately when she saw her, meeting her halfway.

Clarke stood still while her mother inspected her closely and checked her vitals, fussing over her non-stop.

"Mom, I'm fine."

Abby glanced at the wounds on her daughter's chest. "They're starting to scab over. Did you clean them last night?"

Clarke nodded, her gaze dropping to the floor for a second. "Bellamy did."

Her mother's gaze seemed to harden. "Right."

Clarke frowned at her mother's change in attitude, but decided now wasn't the time to question it. "I…" She glanced across the room to where Bellamy was talking to Miller and Bryan. "We need to talk to you."

Abby looked at her warily. "About what?"

Clarke kept staring at Bellamy until she felt his gaze grudgingly meet hers. She motioned for him to join them.

She could see him square his shoulders as he tossed his apple core and then walked over to meet them.

Clarke nodded toward the back corner, where Kane was still sitting, leading everyone over there.

Abby glanced warily between Clarke and Bellamy as Kane greeted them both, apologizing profusely for his behavior.

They both shrugged him off.

Clark glanced around, making sure they were somewhat alone. "We need to gather the leaders…everyone we think we can trust. We need to tell them what I saw in the city of light."

Abby grabbed her daughter's arm. "What did you see?"

Clarke glanced at Bellamy before looking back at her mother. "Really, we need to tell everyone. And I'd really rather only do this once, if I can help it."

Kane quickly stepped forward. "Let me know who you want here. I'll gather them."

Clark named Indra and a few of the commanders and seconds she had gotten along decently with. "Oh! What happened to Roan?! Is he alive?"

Abby and Kane looked confused, while Bellamy glared at her.

She focused on her mother and Kane. "Roan. The guy that came in with me yesterday. The leader of the Ice Nation. He was shot…"

Kane's eyes lit in recognition. "I think they put him down in the dungeon. He was alive when they took him down, but I'm not sure if he survived or not. I doubt anyone has treated him."

Clarke frowned. "This would be a lot easier with his help. I need to go check on him." She headed for the door.

Bellamy grabbed her arm before she could get more than a few steps from him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To go see if Roan's alive. Patch him up if I need to. Weren't you listening?"

He scowled at her. "We don't need him, and you definitely aren't going down there alone."

"He's the King of the Ice Nation, Bellamy, and he's one of the best warriors they have. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have him on our side." She jerked her arm from his grasp. "Now, I need to go see if he's alive."

Grabbing her mother's medical bag, she hurried out the door and got in the elevator, which was usable again.

Before she could close the doors, Bellamy was beside her, gun strapped around his chest.

She looked at him, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"He'd slit your throat as easily as look at you."

"I don't think so. He helped us before. And he's had multiple opportunities to kill both of us, and he hasn't."

He glared at her out of the corner of his eye.

She shrugged as the elevator made its slow decent.

Getting off on the ground level, they went down a flight of stairs to what used to be an underground parking garage, but was now sectioned off into cells.

Clarke started jogging past empty cells until she found one with a large lump in it. Pausing, she looked at Bellamy, who reluctantly grabbed a key off the wall and unlocked the door.

When Clarke tried to go in before him, he put his arm out, holding up a finger to tell her to wait a minute.

He carefully skirted the unmoving lump, going around to the other side to see his face.

He nodded at Clarke, who immediately sat on the floor in front of Roan, stretching her fingers out to his neck to check for a pulse.

Her fingers had barely touched his neck when his hand came up to grip her wrist in a vice.

She gasped and Bellamy took an immediate step forward, his gun raised, but Roan only stared up at Clark, his fingers still brutal on her wrist.

"Wanheda." He said, by way of greeting.

Clarke waved Bellamy back. "Clarke, if you don't mind. And if you want me to dig that bullet out of your shoulder, I suggest you don't break my hand."

Roan let out a grunt, dropping her wrist.

She peered at the bullet wound. "How are you still conscious right now? I thought you were dead."

"It takes more than this to kill an Azgeda warrior."

Bellamy snorted in the background.

Clarke paused to glare at him over her shoulder before turning back to Roan, probing at his shoulder some more with her fingers. "I need to get this out. And then you need to come upstairs with me. We need your help."

Roan's mouth twitched in some semblance of a grin. "When don't you need my help?" He sighed, laying back flat on the dirt. "Do it."

Just a few minutes later, the three of them were making their way back up in the elevator.

Roan had endured Clarke's doctoring, managing to stay conscious through the bullet extraction, when she sterilized it with moonshine, and when she stitched it up.

Clarke was glancing at him worriedly every few minutes, afraid he might fall over, and Bellamy was glancing at him with something that looked like grudging respect, although he'd never admit it.

When they got to the top floor, they walked through the hallway and into the great room, shutting the doors behind them.

Inside were Abby, Kane, Indra, Octavia, Miller, Murphey, Jaha, and a half a dozen leaders from the other clans.

Clarke nodded in greeting when they all turned to watch the trio enter.

Kane spoke from the other side of the room. "Clarke, I told them you had something you needed to discuss with them."

Clarke took a breath, squaring her shoulders as she stepped forward. Suddenly, anxiety gripped her. It wasn't just that she had some of the fiercest Grounders known to man staring at her, it was also that she knew she was about to give them news that would terrify them.

Her mouth opened, then closed again. She was unsure of where to even start.

Before she could try again, she felt a presence by her side. Looking up, she saw that Bellamy had stepped forward, giving her a curt nod before he again faced the people in front of them.

She took another deep breath before she started. "I talked to ALIE in the City of Light."

There were murmurs around the room.

"She tried to convince me that I couldn't destroy her because we needed her."

Kane was frowning. "That's what she does, Clarke. It's how she got so many people to take the chip. She convinced them they needed her."

"No, I know. But this wasn't about that. She told me that soon, the City of Light would be the only safe place for us."

Abby narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean? Why?"

Clarke paused, glancing around the room. "According to her, all the nuclear power plants around the world are failing, and within a short time, Earth will be uninhabitable…again."

Everyone started talking all at once.

Roan silenced them with a sharp whistle. His gaze was intense on Clarke. "How do you know this…thing…wasn't lying to you?"

"…I don't. I mean, I can't be sure. But I think there's a good chance she was telling the truth. And I don't think it's something we can just ignore. We need to come up with a plan…some way to see if it IS true…and then see if there's a way to fix it or…survive it."

Kane was the first to speak. "How would we even go about this?"

"I'm not sure. We need to talk to Raven…Monty…We need to get everyone who was an engineer or a scientist or anything like that on the Ark together and see if they can come up with something." Her eyes widened with an idea. She turned to her mother. "Is Wick here? Did he make it?"

Abby nodded. "Yeah, I saw him last night."

Clarke breathed a small sigh of relief. "Good, he's the best we've got. Between him, Raven, and Monty, they should be able to figure something out…at least be able to tell us what we're dealing with here." She looked at the rest of the group, specifically the Grounders. "This affects all of us. None of us will be able to survive if what ALIE predicted comes true."

One of the older leaders stepped forward. "My people have survived this…radiation…before. We will survive it again."

Clarke shook her head. "Before, your people were able to survive smaller bursts of radiation, partially because you built up a tolerance to it along the way. This won't be like that. This will be a massive amount, all at once. It will destroy everything around us: the air we breathe, the water we drink, the plants and animals we eat…nothing will be able to survive it."

Roan spoke from behind Clarke. "So what is it you want from us?"

She turned to the side so she was able to see him more clearly. "We need to work together."

"My people are not engineers or scientists. We can't help you."

"No, but your people are warriors, and you know the land and the tribes, especially those North of us. We may need your help."

Roan studied her for a moment, his gaze piercing. Finally, his head bowed slightly. "The Ice Nation is in your debt, Wanheda. If you need our help, we will give it."

Clarke nodded her thanks before turning back to the others.

One at a time, they also agreed, some more reluctantly than others. Within just a few minutes, they were all relatively on the same page.

Clarke glanced across the room toward her mother and Kane. "My people need to get back to camp. We need to see what we can figure out."

Indra stepped forward. "What about our people? We do not have a commander."

Clarke looked uncertain. "Luna is the only nightblood left, and she's made it clear she doesn't want the job. Plus, the chip is gone and so is ALIE." She scanned the faces of those around her. "You may have to change the way you select a leader."

Indra looked partially angry, partially at a loss. "This is all my people have ever known."

Murphy chose that minute to speak up sarcastically from the corner. "Ever heard of democracy?"

Kane's expression hardened. "I can't say it doesn't have its drawbacks too."

Bellamy's jaw locked and his eyes fell as he, too, remembered that Pike had been elected fairly.

Clarke didn't try to hide her impatience. "You need to work that out for yourselves. But if we don't stop these power plants…there won't be anyone left to rule anyway."

With that, the rest of the Sky Crew began gathering their things and heading out the door.

Before Clarke could make her way out, Roan had stepped in front of her.

Clarke looked up, and up some more, finally meeting his gaze questioningly.

"We will go with you?"

Clarke looked a little taken aback. She glanced around at the other leaders, who were currently hurrying out to talk to their people. "No, we need to come up with a plan first. You stay here…take care of your people and do what you need to do. We'll send someone for you if we need you."

He gave a short nod and went to step aside.

This time, Clarke went after him. "Make sure you have your healer take care of your shoulder."

Roan responded with a look that said 'yeah, right.'

Clarke narrowed her eyes. "You're of no help to anyone if you die from an infection. Get someone to take care of it."

His mouth twitched. "Yes, Wanheda." His tone was slightly mocking.

"Clarke!" She reminded him before walking out the doors.

She stood in front of the elevator doors, waiting for it to come back up. Feeling a presence to her right, she looked up to find Bellamy at her side, gun in hand, as always. A smirk played on his face as he shook his head.

Clarke frowned. "What?"

"You just have everyone falling all over themselves to do your bidding, don't you?"

She sputtered.

He grinned, finally looking at her. "Relax, Princess. I guess some things never change."

"You say that as if you were at my beck and call when we first landed." She reminded him.

His grin widened, eyes twinkling at her from under his mop of shaggy hair. "Yeah, but look at me now."

Clarke looked away, feeling a blush starting to rise to her cheeks. She wasn't sure whether to laugh or hide her face in her hands.

Luckily, the rest of their group came up to join them as they filed into the elevator and she was saved from having to decide.

On the long ride down, she glanced across the elevator more than once. Each time, she found Bellamy grinning back at her.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I'm choosing to stick with the universe the show created for us at the end of season 3, meaning that the whole "end of the world/nuclear power plants" problem needs to be dealt with. BUT...I'm not a scientist, an engineer, a chemist, or anything even remotely close. So, for those of you that DID progress beyond the Bill Nye videos stage of scientific knowledge, please go easy on me. I'm just tryin' to tell a good old-fashioned 'Bellarke save the world and fall in love' story over here. Muah.

* * *

They all headed into camp a few hours later. They were tired, they were weary, and some of them were injured…but they were home.

Clarke looked up just as Monty came barreling toward her. She caught him, grinning as he hugged her tightly.

Looking over, she saw Raven had Bellamy in a similar embrace. After a moment, they switched.

After more a more subdued greeting from Harper, who immediately took off to find Miller and Bryan, Clarke frowned as she realized that Jasper wasn't there.

She looked at Raven questioningly. "Jasper?"

Raven pointed to where he was standing, looking timid and embarrassed near the doorway of the Ark.

Clarke walked over to him.

His gaze refused to meet hers.

"Jasper…"

A tear trailed its way down his cheek.

"Hey," she said softly, gathering him in her arms, "it's okay."

Surprised, it took him a moment to hug her back. "I'm sorry," he said brokenly.

"It's okay," she repeated.

"I just…I didn't want to feel anymore."

Clarke frowned against his shoulder. "I know."

"I didn't mean to hurt you guys…I never wanted that. I just…"

Clarke pulled back, determined and a little shaken by just how much she understood what he was going through right now. "I know, Jasper. Trust me…I know."

Jasper straightened his lanky frame, wiping the remaining tears off his face. "I'm good now, okay? No more reckless shit, no more turning my back on you guys…I'm back. I promise."

Clarke nodded. When she saw Jasper give a nod to someone over her shoulder, she turned to find Bellamy standing a few feet behind her, watching the two of them with some sort of understanding on his face. He returned Jasper's short nod.

They all watched as the rest of their group moved up to join them.

Jasper, Monty, Harper, and Raven all glanced around apprehensively when they realized something wasn't right.

Raven sighed. "What now?"

Bellamy's mouth quirked. "Let's go inside. We have something to tell you."

Raven rolled her eyes, limping past him and into the Ark. "Of course you do."

The entire room was silent.

Jasper, Monty, Raven, and Wick were all still processing, while Clarke, Bellamy, Abby, and Kane stayed silent, waiting for their friends to catch up.

"Seriously?" Raven sighed, running her hands over her head, smoothing back her ponytail, which didn't need smoothed.

"Yup." Bellamy answered, emotionless.

Raven turned, looking at the tall blonde man beside her, who seemed surprised she was even giving him the time of day, probably because she'd broken up with him and then he'd taken the key and turned into a mindless ALIE zombie.

Raven rolled her eyes. "I'll kick your ass later, idiot. What do we do about this?"

Wick ran his hand over his forehead before standing up and starting to pace. He immediately went into science mode. "We need to run some kind of simulation…see if this is really happening. We need maps of the locations of the nuclear power plants. We need…" He stopped, looking stricken. "We need someone else. This isn't my field…" He trailed off helplessly.

Raven hopped awkwardly off her stool, going to place a hand on his arm. "You're the best we've got." She moved closer, looking up at him calmly. "You have me, Monty, Jasper..." She glanced over at the rest of them. "There have to be other scientists out there, or some more engineers…"

Wick suddenly started nodding. "I know I saw some guys that went through the science program with me. I'm not sure what field they ended up in, but anyone with any knowledge can help."

Bellamy frowned, thinking. "I know my old science teacher is around here somewhere. I punched him yesterday."

Clarke snorted.

Raven nodded, looking at Clarke and Bellamy. "You guys need to go tell the others. And tell anyone with any Science, Engineering, or Earth Studies experience to come in here." She quickly huddled up with Wick and Monty, the three of them talking softly amongst themselves and throwing around words like 'simulation, nuclear core, radiation, and uranium.'

Jasper was standing a foot or so away from the huddle, partially included but partially not.

Monty glanced over his shoulder and noticed him standing there. With a slight step backward, he subtly made room for his friend.

Bellamy, Clarke, Kane and Abby all looked at each other.

"I think we've been dismissed." Bellamy said, only half joking.

The others nodded and headed out into the hallway.

Kane stepped forward. "I'll go inform the others and round up anyone who can help."

Bellamy fell into step beside him. "I'll go find Miller. We need to make sure everyone stays calm when they hear the news."

Kane nodded and the two of them headed out after a last glance at the girls.

Once they were alone, Abby pulled Clarke in with one arm.

Clarke leaned her head on her mother's shoulder.

"We need to get the injured into beds in the med bay. Patch up anyone whose stitches opened up on the way back from Polis," Abby said softly.

Clarke nodded.

They just stood there for a moment, leaning against each other.

"We'll get through this," Abby said.

Clarke nodded again. "Mom…when we're done in the med bay…can you help me with something?"

"Sure." Abby looked at her questioningly. "What?"

Clarke broke a small smile for the first time in hours. "Later."

Bellamy hadn't talked to Clarke in hours. He'd seen her a few times, when he'd been helping carry the injured into the med bay earlier, but then he'd taken over getting the camp cleaned up and back to normal, while he knew she was busy stitching people up inside.

But now darkness had fallen and he had a strange, although not uncommon, at this point, urge to go find her and make sure she was okay.

Hell, maybe he just wanted to make sure she was still there.

He grabbed a handful of nuts from a bowl on one of the dinner tables, then walked quickly toward the med bay.

Before he could go inside, Clarke stepped outside.

Bellamy stopped in his tracks, his hand raised partially to his mouth to eat another peanut.

Clarke looked around uncertainly, as if she were nervous or…searching for something. Her gaze landed on him.

With a timid smile, she made her way slowly toward him.

Clearing his throat, he shut his mouth and dropped his hand back to his side.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey."

They stood quietly for a moment, her fidgeting nervously and him scanning her from head to toe repeatedly.

"You…" He gestured to her body.

Gone was any semblance of the "Grounder shit," as he'd so eloquently called it earlier. The terrifying Woolly Mammoth/robot coat was replaced by a short leather one, there wasn't a medieval corset in sight, and her hair was different…obviously freshly washed, it had also been cut shorter and all the braids had been removed. It now hung around her shoulders in soft waves.

If Bellamy didn't know any better, he'd have thought he was looking at the Clarke he'd known long ago.

Clark spoke up. "I'm back."

He just raised his eyebrows.

"I don't think I can ever be the person I was before…not really…but I realized…I can't have one foot in and one foot out."

Bellamy's gaze met hers, thinking of the conversation he'd overheard part of. "Jasper?"

Her eyes widened at his astute guess. She nodded. "I…I get it, you know? He was hurt. He couldn't live with it. So he ran…literally and figuratively. He didn't want to hurt everyone he cares about…but he did anyway." Her voice quieted. "And I did the same thing."

Bellamy took a step toward her, a frown on his face. "Clarke…we all did. We all ran, in one way or another. We need to stop that shit. We're better together."

Clarke took a deep breath. "I know. I realized the clothes were just another part of it. I was pretending to be someone I wasn't, and I don't want to pretend anymore. So…I'm back. All the way." She looked up at him. "I'm home. I mean…we're probably going to end up traipsing all over the place, trying to stop nuclear power plants from blowing up…but…I'm back."

Bellamy grinned, wrapping his arms around her back and pulling her to him. "Welcome home, Princess."

She let out a long sigh, hugging tightly to his waist as her head pressed against his chest.

They stood there for a few minutes, just taking comfort in each other's arms.

Finally, he pulled back, trademark grin in place. "Come on, you looking like a Sky Princess again deserves a drink. We found another batch of Monty's moonshine."

Clarke smiled, then hesitated. "What about…" She gestured inside, to where a dozen or so people had been holed up for most of the day, trying to figure out how to stop the end of the world.

Bellamy shrugged. "They're figuring it out. There's nothing we can do until they need us."

Clarke nodded, following him to the campfire where the rest of their friends sat, holding cups of Monty's moonshine.

"Clarke! You're back!" Miller surprised her by giving her a quick hug, immediately looking embarrassed after he released her.

The rest of the group voiced their approval, and even Octavia managed to smile from where she was sitting, her head leaning on Harper's shoulder.

Clarke sat down beside Octavia, accepting a cup from her outstretched hand. She looked across the fire to where Bellamy sat beside Miller.

Something passed between them, something that made them both release a breath, made them both release a little of the tension in their bodies.

Yes, she was home.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I'm not a science person, remember? Just go with it. :)

Clarke awoke to the sound of Raven's voice.

"Come on, you jackasses. Shake the hangovers off. We've got work to do."

Clarke sat up, eyes bleary and forehead furrowed. She glanced around.

Apparently everyone had fallen asleep where they were last night except for Harper, who was currently walking out of the Ark with Monty.

Clarke looked down, surprised to find a blanket over her. She definitely didn't get up to get it, and she couldn't remember who put it on her.

Glancing beside her, she noticed Octavia was also staring confusedly at a blanket covering her.

Clarke's eyes darted up, connecting with the man across from her who was currently shaking sleep from his head, his hand running through the mess of unruly curls on top of his head.

Clarke raised an eyebrow minutely, knowing the answer before she even asked the question.

Bellamy shrugged, his gaze sheepish.

A corner of Clarke's mouth turned up.

Octavia seemed to come to the same conclusion Clarke had, because she sighed and pulled the blanket off dramatically before looking up at Raven. "What did you guys figure out? Are we gonna…kaboom?" She asked, in her usual abrupt manner.

"Yup."

Everyone's gaze darted to her.

"The bitch was right," she said, referring to ALIE. "But we're working on a plan now. We need you two," she gestured to Clarke and Bellamy.

They both stood up, following her inside and grabbing Monty on the way.

When they got to the room, they discovered Abby and Kane already inside. The rest of the group was beyond eclectic; there were a dozen or so people, ranging from 15 to 70 and covering almost every walk of life.

Raven jumped in. "We found maps of the old nuclear power stations. We ran simulations to test for deterioration and temperature build-up and everything else these guys could think of. Turns out, we have around six months before everything blows sky high."

Clarke sighed. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she'd known this is what they would find. "So what can we do?"

"We've run some more simulations, seeing home much of the Earth will be inhabitable. We came up with around 4%, and most of that is on an ice shelf in the middle of an ocean."

"Antarctica," replied an older woman.

Clarke vaguely recognized her as one of the teachers on the Ark.

Raven nodded. "Yeah, Antarctica. Anyway…we can't live there, and even if we could, we wouldn't be able to get anything to grow…not to mention I have no clue how we would even get there."

Wick cleared his throat.

Raven sent him a glare before continuing. "So then we ran more tests, seeing if we could lessen the impact if we somehow turned some of the nuclear reactors off and stopped them from exploding."

Raven turned to an older man with a black eye. A quick glance at Bellamy made Clarke realize that this was the science teacher he'd been talking about.

Before the man spoke, he gave a slight nod to Abby, and Clarke suddenly remembered him as one of her dad's friends. He'd been by their apartment occasionally when she was younger. If she remembered correctly, he'd once held the Lead Scientist position on the Ark before he'd semi-retired and gone into teaching.

He started speaking knowledgeably. "We factored in as many variables as we could: size of the nuclear reactors, blast radius, landscapes, weather patterns…"

Bellamy gave an impatient sigh.

The man glanced up, frowning at his former student. "The point is, if we can shut down enough of them, we should be able to dramatically increase the inhabitable land that's left."

"And how do we do that?" Kane asked.

Wick stepped away from the chalkboard full of numbers and symbols he'd been working on. "We think we can disable the nuclear reactors…but we'll have to do it in person."

"How many?" Bellamy asked, tersely.

Clarke's 9th grade math teacher stepped forward. "There's not a specific number we need. It's more a case of, the more we shut down, the better our chances."

Jasper spoke for the first time. "Even with all of our simulations…there's still some unpredictability. We're going off weather patterns and air currents that existed 100 years ago. Things could have changed by now."

Bellamy let out a harsh breath. "The more, the better."

Raven nodded, grabbing a rolled up map off the table and tacking it to the wall. "These are all the nuclear reactors in the US."

Clarke groaned. The map seemed to be covered in little red dots.

Raven glanced at her sympathetically. "I know. But…a good majority of them are on the Eastern seaboard, pretty close to us. Now, if we do nothing about it, that's a bad thing, because the fallout here will be quick and totally devastating. But…it also means that we're only a few hundred miles away from a lot of them."

Bellamy was frowning, but nodding. "We can get to them. Shut them off."

Clarke was studying the map. "Half of us will go North, half will go South. We'll chart out a course to get to as many of them as we can as fast as we can."

Abby seemed dubious. "How do we even…we don't even know what's out there! There are probably other tribes…animals…there could be another Mount Weather…"

Clarke was having a silent conversation with Bellamy. He nodded. To her surprise, Kane caught her gaze, also nodding.

"I'll ask Roan and the Ice Nation warriors to go North with us," Clark said.

"And I'll ask Indra and the Trikru to go South with us," added Kane.

"Clarke!...Marcus!...we can't…" Abby protested.

Kane took her hands in his. "We don't have a choice, Abby."

Clarke watched as Abby and Kane had some sort of silent argument.

Finally, Abby replied, "Fine, but I'm going with you."

Kane looked like he wanted to protest for a moment before he eventually pressed his lips into a tight line. "Fine."

Clarke glanced at Bellamy out of the corner of her eye, knowing he'd seen the exchange too. "We going to have the same silent argument?"

He turned his head slightly, smirking even though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Nope. We're better together, remember, Princess?"

Trying to ignore the way her stomach clenched at those words, she nodded.

Kane spoke to the group in front of them. "So who needs to go to shut these things off?"

They hurriedly planned out two groups, trying to divide up the necessary people as evenly as possible.

As it stood, Bellamy, Clarke, Monty, Jasper, and Harper were set to go North, along with a science teacher and one of the computer programmers from the Ark, while Kane, Abby, Wick, Raven, Miller, and Bryan were set to go South, along with a scientist from the Ark and a teenager who had been imprisoned for his impressive hacking skills.

Clarke looked over to find Monty sitting on a stool, gaze on the floor, hands fidgeting in front of him. She walked over to him. "Monty, what is it?"

Terrified eyes met hers. "I didn't even get to finish the engineering program on the Ark."

"Monty…"

"Wick is trying to explain everything to me, and I know I'll have Jasper and the science dude but… I don't know if I'm good enough. I don't know if I can do this, but I'm the closest thing to another engineer we've got."

Clarke frowned, glancing back over at the map. "How far away is the closest one? The one just to the left there."

Raven glanced at it. "Probably 10 miles or so."

"What if we all went there together? You guys can make sure you know what you're doing, make sure that we can even shut them off to begin with. That way we'll all have a clear plan and a little experience."

Raven and Wick glanced at each other, nodding.

"Works for me," Wick said.

Monty squeezed Clarke's arm gratefully.

"We need to pack provisions, chart out the courses…" Bellamy glanced at Clarke. "We need to send someone to Polis to see if Roan and Indra will even agree to go with us."

Clarke nodded, heading out to send a couple of the guards back to Polis with the messages.

A few minutes later, Bellamy found her as she emerged from the med bay, a pack with medical supplies slung over her shoulder.

His eyes touched hers before looking at the ground. "Octavia will want to go with Indra." It came out part statement, part question.

Clarke looked at him sadly. She knew Octavia wasn't ready to forgive him and probably wouldn't want to go with his group. Plus, she considered Indra a mentor. "Probably."

He nodded. "I'm afraid the groups are unbalanced now though. As far as fighters go, they have Miller, Bryan, and Octavia, while we only have me and Harper. And Harper's good with a gun, but in hand-to-hand…" He looked up at her. "Miller needs to go with them, and I'm pretty sure Octavia won't come with us, so I think we need to switch Bryan to our group."

Clarke bit her lip, picturing Miller and Bryan together. "Don't do that."

Bellamy just raised an eyebrow.

"Don't separate Miller and Bryan. If this doesn't work, they deserve to spend their last few months together."

"You're right." His gaze suddenly flew back to hers. "Shit, you should be with your mom." The wheels started turning in his head. "Their team already has a hacker, maybe you could switch with Raven." Then, he frowned. "I don't like the thought of you out there alone though…Miller's good but he's not…"

Bellamy stopped before the word popped out, but they both knew what it was. _Me._

A slow, sweet smile spread across Clarke's face as a matching warmth pooled somewhere in her chest. She grabbed his hand. "Hey, I'm not switching. I'm where I'm supposed to be." Her eyes bore into his. "Together, remember?"

He swallowed, then nodded softly, his eyes searching hers.

Clarke let go of his hand and glanced over his shoulder. "And you know who you need to bring with us." She patted his shoulder as she walked around him.

Bellamy turned, his eyes landing on the person she'd been looking at a minute earlier.

He sighed. "Murphy!"


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Here we have protective Mama Bear Abby. Enjoy!

Also, science-schmience. Just nod and act like I know what I'm talking about.

* * *

Clarke woke suddenly, jumping when she saw the face looming over hers.

"Get up. I have an idea," Raven said excitedly.

Clarke blinked the sleep from her eyes, looking over to find Bellamy doing the same thing a few feet away from her.

They'd fallen asleep in the room beside the med bay, talking late into the night about their plans for the trip. Miller had been in there with them earlier, and Abby and Kane had stopped by for a few minutes before that, but when it came down to the final decisions, the final strategy, it was left to Clarke and Bellamy, as it always was.

"I really hate you," Clarke murmured half-heartedly.

"I'm just glad I don't have to spend the next 6 months getting woken up like this." Bellamy was fairly glaring.

Raven just snorted. "Come on, grouchy asses. I said I have an idea, maybe my best one yet. And that's saying something!"

Clarke exchanged an eye roll with Bellamy. "Okay, hit us with it."

Raven lowered herself onto the ground with them somewhat awkwardly. "I'm not going South with the group."

Bellamy's forehead furrowed. "Why? You'll be on horseback most of the time, and the brace Wick made has been helping you a lot, right?"

"Yeah…I mean, I had worried about slowing them down a little, but that's not what made me want to stay. I think I can be of more help here."

Clarke leaned forward. "How?"

"I couldn't sleep last night. At first, I thought it was just nerves, but then I realized it was because I couldn't get something your mom said out of my head."

Clarke frowned. "My mom?"

"She said something about how we didn't know what was out there…how there could be other Grounders, maybe even another Mount Weather."

"Okaaay…"

Raven's eyes widened, lighting up like they always did when she'd gone down her mechanic's rabbit hole. "She's right. There has to be other people out there. If the Grounders here adapted to the radiation and learned how to survive, I'm sure people in other places did too. There could easily be another underground bunker with survivors…and there are also sections of the Ark still unaccounted for."

Clarke's gaze flew to Bellamy, who seemed to be connecting the same dots she was, his head starting to nod slowly.

Raven continued, "Some of these people have to have technology of some kind. We know the Ark stations would…underground bunkers might…and there could be other sets of Grounders that still use technology, or at least have access to it. I was starting to work on building a better signal before, to try to reach any other Ark Stations, but then everything with Mount Weather…it kind of got pushed to the back burner, especially after Jaha and Pike…"

She shifted, leaning toward them even more, her face focused. "I think I can build something…maybe try to use one of Mount Weather's old communication towers…or maybe build my own…I don't know yet. But I think I can build something that will send out a signal…create my own network, basically. If anyone has any access to any technology…computers, radios…maybe even old cell phones…I might be able to communicate with them."

Bellamy's gaze flicked rapidly back and forth between Clarke and Raven, the excitement rubbing off on him. "And if we can get in touch with other people, we can tell them how to disable the nuclear reactors near them. We could get even more of them shut off…even the ones we'd never get to in time...even ones in other countries."

Raven was nodding enthusiastically. "Now, I don't know how far I can get a signal to reach. If there are any other towers still standing, I may be able to get my signal to ping off them. Back in the old days, they used to use satellites for this sort of thing…" Her eyes widened. "The main section of the Ark is still in space, right?"

Clarke responded, "Yeah, why?"

Raven hurriedly stood up. "I need to talk to Wick before he leaves. I wonder if I can use it to bounce the signal somehow…"

Clarke and Bellamy exchanged a look, as if to say 'we're totally out of our depth here.'

Raven just glanced at them. "I know, I know, I might as well be speaking Greek. Just leave it to me, okay? Oh, and I'm trying to work on a radio for each group to take with them. Theoretically, if I get the signal working, we should be able to communicate. And we'll definitely be able to communicate using the computers at the power plants. Well…if this works, that is."

Clarke smiled. "If anybody can get it to work, it's you."

Raved smirked. "Damn straight."

With that, she hurried out the door.

Clarke turned to Bellamy, her look a little incredulous. "We might actually have a chance."

Bellamy just lifted one side of his mouth in that smirk she knew so well. "Damn straight." He got up, patting her knee before he left. "You act like you were worried or something."

Bellamy hurried into the med bay, hoping to speak to Clarke for a minute before they left. Instead, he came face to face with Abby Griffin.

"Oh." He stopped short. "Sorry. I…uh…I was looking for Clarke."

Abby looked even less pleased than usual to see him, and that was saying something. "She's with Raven."

"Oh. Okay. Thanks." He started to turn around.

"We need to talk."

 _Uh oh._ Bellamy's eyebrows rose as he looked questioningly at Clarke's mother.

"You said you'd take care of her."

"Huh?"

"In Polis, when Clarke fainted…you said you'd take care of her. I TRUSTED you to be man enough to keep your word." Abby looked ready to spit nails.

Bellamy frowned, completely confused. "I DID take care of her. What are you talking about?"

"When I was finished patching everybody up, I came to find you two."

"Okay…"

"I…saw you." Abby gestured uncomfortably with her hand.

Bellamy's exasperation was starting to leak through. "You saw me what?"

Abby was practically shouting now. "I saw you in bed with my daughter!"

Bellamy felt a slight flush rise to his cheeks, although he refused to back down; he hadn't done anything wrong. "How did you even…I locked the door."

If looks could kill… "You son of a bitch…"

Bellamy held out his hands. "Woah, woah, woah. Hold on. I locked the door because I wanted her to SLEEP. I figured if I didn't lock it, someone would barge in an hour later and swear they just couldn't manage to do SOMETHING without Clarke." He frowned. "But you didn't SEE anything. We weren't doing anything. And you do know your daughter is an adult, right?"

"She's barely 18! And that's not the point! She was practically unconscious! And I walk in to find your clothes on the floor and you in bed all…"

"All…what?"

"Wrapped around each other!" Now it was Abby's turn to flush.

Bellamy pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "So you thought…what? I forced myself on my unconscious best friend and then stayed around after to…cuddle?"

"I…I…" Abby's mouth opened and closed a few times, reminding Bellamy of the fish he'd gotten good at catching out of the river.

He forced his voice to remain calm. "Some of our clothes were on the floor because they were filthy and uncomfortable and I wanted her to get a good night's sleep. I asked her if she was okay with it and she was fine. I even asked her if she wanted me to go get you or my sister to help her instead, and she said no."

Abby's mouth abruptly shut.

"And I was going to sleep on the floor, but she refused to shut her eyes." He ran his hand over his face, remembering how petrified her eyes had looked. "She was terrified she was going to be back in the City of Light. She kept talking about a mob chasing her…I don't know. I just wanted her to sleep. I WAS taking care of her. I'll always take care of her." By the time he finished, his voice was soft, sad, almost a little wounded, and the last sentence was barely a whisper.

Abby searched his gaze, and apparently accepting his explanation, she had the decency to look guilty. "I…" She shut her mouth before opening it again. "I'm sorry."

Bellamy's eyes briefly met hers, nodding once.

They stood there in an awkward silence for a minute.

Bellamy let out a sigh. "I know you don't like me, and I can't really blame you…but you do know I'd never hurt her, right?"

Abby's eyes flitted over his face. "That was the conclusion I'd come to before. It's why I'd started going easier on you…but then I saw you in bed and I just…"

Bellamy let one corner of his mouth turn up. "This was you going easy on me?"

Abby chuckled, almost unwillingly. "I've asked her, so many times, if you two are together, and she always says no. So when I saw her unconscious and you…"

Bellamy sighed. "It's fine. I get it." He ran his hand nervously over the back of his neck. "You…asked her that?"

Abby's expression shifted, suddenly holding a bit of amusement. "Yes."

"Uh…why would you…" He trailed off, embarrassed.

"I may be old, but I'm not blind."

Bellamy just raised his eyebrows.

Abby's voice softened. "Have you told her how you feel?"

"I…uh…"

Abby just watched him.

Bellamy could feel the flush all the way down his neck. "It's not like that."

The look on Abby's face said 'yeah, right.'

"You hate me. Why are you even…"

Abby sighed. "I don't hate you. But you know you're not good enough for her, right?"

Bellamy's jaw set. Of course he knew that. He was nobody; a janitor, a poor schmuck whose mother had…

He was startled out of his thoughts when Abby placed a hand on his arm.

"I'm never going to think ANYONE is good enough for my daughter. But if I HAD to choose…I guess you'd come pretty damn close."

Bellamy's mouth snapped shut in surprise.

They just stood there, awkwardly coming to terms with this beyond awkward conversation.

Bellamy looked at the floor near Abby's right foot. He supposed there was no reason to lie about how he felt; Abby seemed to already know. "It doesn't matter. She doesn't…she doesn't feel that way about me."

Abby scoffed. "Please."

His eyes snapped to hers. "She doesn't."

She sighed. "When I was chipped…ALIE was telling me to use what I knew about my daughter to get her to break. Do you know what I said…what I KNEW would force Clarke to break?"

Bellamy shook his head slowly, eyes weary.

"I told them to torture you."

He made some sort of noise, somewhere between a gasp and a scoff. He knew his mouth was doing the gaping fish routine now. "I…"

Abby's look softened, taking pity on him. "I just want her to be happy."

Bellamy's eyes widened at the implication that he could be the one to do that. "So do I."

Abby studied him, seemingly gauging his sincerity. She must have been happy with what she found, because after a minute, she nodded and started to walk out the door.

She paused in the doorway, turning back to where Bellamy was still somewhat shell-shocked, standing in the middle of the room. "You'll protect her." It was a half question, half statement.

Bellamy's eyes raised to hers, his shoulders squaring. "With my life."

Abby nodded, finally leaving him alone in the med bay.


End file.
